Trade union leaders are to meet senior officials at the Department of Finance today to discuss the application of the millennium pay award to health service workers across the rest of the public service. The Garda representative bodies are expected to hold parallel discussions with the Department of Justice.
If the terms given to health service workers are applied to the entire public service, the total cost of the Exceptional Millennium Bonus (EMB), as the Labour Court has dubbed it, is expected to be more than £80 million.
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus has just concluded a millennium deal with its unions which will see up to 2,000 employees receive payments ranging from £40 to a maximum of £700, plus extra concession flights for staff and immediate family members. However, the upper figure may apply to fewer than 50 employees, with the majority receiving between £150 and £300.
The award to health service workers yesterday was £45 an hour for those working between 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve and 8 a.m. on New Year's Day. Staff employed between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve, and between 8 a.m. on New Year's Day and 8 a.m. on January 2nd will be paid £30 an hour.
Staff on call at home will be paid £180 a day and staff required to be on call at their place of work, such as non-consultant hospital doctors, will receive a £270 standby allowance. About 25,000 posts are covered by the EMB. The precise number of people involved is unclear, as some staff may be rostered on both days. More than 90 per cent of those rostered will be in the clinical and ancillary services.
Mr James Doran of the Health Service Employers' Agency said the award would be costly but he welcomed the successful resolution of the dispute.
The health services unions had sought £100 an hour, but the senior negotiator, Mr David Hughes of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, described the Labour Court award as a "reasonable response" to the claim. He said unions would be advising members to accept the terms.
The national secretary of IMPACT, Mr Kevin Callinan, said the award was broadly in line with other sectors. Last night, the deputy general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Union, Ms Rosaleen Glacken, said she expected the Labour Court recommendation "to be fully implemented in the public service".
The Department of Finance is not expected to make any formal announcement before senior officials meet public service unions this afternoon, but official sources indicated last night that the Labour Court award would be applied to groups such as civil servants, prison officers, fire fighters and local authority employees required to work on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.